Cooling using a wick with varied thickness

Abstract

Embodiments described herein may include apparatuses, systems and/or processes to provide an evaporator including a chamber to receive condensate flow from an input end and output a vapor outflow at an output end with a wick, heated by a surface of the chamber, having variable thickness within the chamber to receive condensate, where the thickness of the wick proximate to the condensate inflow is greater than the thickness of the wick proximate to the vapor outflow. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A cooling apparatus, comprising:
 an evaporator that includes a chamber to receive a condensate inflow from an input end, and output a vapor outflow at an output end;   a wick disposed within the chamber, to receive condensate from the input end, wherein a thickness of the wick proximate to the input end is greater than a thickness of the wick proximate to the output end; and   wherein the wick is to cause condensate within the wick to be vaporized by heat conducted from a surface of the chamber, and the resulting vapor to be expelled from the chamber as the vapor outflow.   
     
     
         2 . The cooling apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the wick has a variable thickness. 
     
     
         3 . The cooling apparatus of  claim 2 , wherein the variable thickness is a gradient from the input end to the output end. 
     
     
         4 . The cooling apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the vapor and condensate are water, R245fa, or methanol. 
     
     
         5 . The cooling apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the input end and the output end are connected by a heat pipe. 
     
     
         6 . The cooling apparatus of  claim 5 , wherein the heat pipe is a loop heat pipe. 
     
     
         7 . The cooling apparatus of  claim 6 , wherein the evaporator and loop heat pipe form a closed system, wherein the closed system has a single wick in the chamber. 
     
     
         8 . The cooling apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the wick is disposed proximate to the surface of the chamber. 
     
     
         9 . The cooling apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the wick substantially covers the surface of the chamber. 
     
     
         10 . The cooling apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the surface is a bottom surface of the evaporator chamber. 
     
     
         11 . The cooling apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the wick is a sintered material. 
     
     
         12 . The cooling apparatus of  claim 1 , further comprising a condenser thermally coupled to the evaporator that includes a plurality of fins to dissipate heat from the evaporator. 
     
     
         13 . The cooling apparatus of  claim 12 , wherein the plurality of fins are thermally coupled to the heat pipe to route heat through the plurality of fins for dissipation. 
     
     
         14 . The cooling apparatus of  claim 13 , wherein the heat pipe is soldered onto one or more of the plurality of fins. 
     
     
         15 . The cooling apparatus of  claim 12 , further comprising a heat source thermally coupled to the evaporator. 
     
     
         16 . The cooling apparatus of  claim 15 , wherein the heat source is a heat sink compact form, one or more microchannel plates, or one or more electrical components. 
     
     
         17 . The cooling apparatus of  claim 15 , wherein the condenser, evaporator, and heat source are a rigidly coupled unit. 
     
     
         18 . The cooling apparatus of  claim 12 , wherein the evaporator chamber further includes a plurality of evaporator chambers with a plurality of chamber walls that extend from a top surface of the evaporator to a bottom surface of the evaporator. 
     
     
         19 . The cooling apparatus of  claim 18 , wherein the plurality of chamber walls are to provide structural rigidity to the evaporator. 
     
     
         20 . The cooling apparatus of  claim 18 , comprising a surface area of a face of a heat source that is substantially adjacent to a total area of the surfaces of the plurality of evaporator chambers; and
 wherein the surface area of the face of the heat source is substantially equal to the total area of the surfaces of the plurality of evaporator chambers.   
     
     
         21 . The cooling apparatus of  claim 12 , wherein the cooling apparatus is coupled to a processor that is seated on a circuit board. 
     
     
         22 . The cooling apparatus of  claim 21 , wherein the circuit board is coupled to a mechanism to facilitate use in a rackmount system. 
     
     
         23 . The cooling apparatus of  claim 22 , wherein the circuit board is inserted into the rackmount system. 
     
     
         24 . A method for cooling, the method comprising:
 receiving condensate from an input end of a chamber of an evaporator to a portion of a wick disposed on a surface of the chamber proximate to the input end;   conducting heat from the surface of the chamber to the wick;   vaporizing the condensate in the wick, wherein a thickness of the wick proximate to the input end is greater than a thickness of the wick proximate to an output end of the chamber; and   expelling vapor outflow from the output end of the chamber.   
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 24 , wherein the input end and the output end are connected by a heat pipe, and wherein the chamber, the input end, the output end, and the heat pipe are a closed system.